Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) and his fellow ocean ecologists set off on an exploration of the Meg’s natural habitat and encounter multiple threats to their lives before having to save those on “Fun Island”. 

As they approach the natural thermal barrier that separates the ocean from Meg territory they are forced to enter The Trench and then encounter an evil human mining operation that results in a breach to the barrier. The first half of the film plays out very much like Kristen Stewart’s Underwater as the team traverse the seabed and tinker with equipment that will let them surface. Whilst the second half is much more of a Jaws and Jurassic Park comedy mashup where a group of unsuspecting tourists at a place called “Fun Island” find themselves on the menu for the Meg’s. 

My minor gripes with the original movie – The Meg – was that it did not really seem sure about leaning into the absurdity of its premise and play it for laughs. This time however everyone seems on board with the idea. Statham gets to do ludicrous things and crack one liners whilst other cast members get to play action hero, comedy sidekick or turn heel and be a traitorous villain. The result is something much more palatable but not entirely without flaws. 

As with the original this film was co-funded by Chinese filmmakers and the result is another sub plot around the Chinese caring for the oceans and a new Chinese co-star in Jing Wu. Wu does a good job in the comedy and action stakes but still delivers a fairly on the nose pro-Chinese speech. 

Whilst the first half does get a little bogged down in effects heavy work that can be a little muddled in the darkness of the Trench. It is much better when we return to the surface in the second half. 

Where the film is at its most entertaining though is in its insanely improbable ideas (one particular underwater event still has me chuckling with how ridiculous it was) and its slightly wider list of aquatic threats. As well as two ridiculously evil (and dumb) human villains. 

It is also interesting to see low budget and challenging independent film maker Ben Wheatley (Free Fire, In The Earth) take the reins here. I was wondering if we would see any of his calling cards but what he has chosen to do is deliver a “made to order” genre film which is an unexpected surprise.

Given the book series this is based on has eight entries perhaps we will see more of the Megs.